MINDFULNESS OF BREATHING – PA AUK SAYADAW

Mindfulness of Breathing

Explained by Pa Auk Sayadaw

In `The Mindfulness-of-Breathing Sutta’ of the Medium Collection (Majjhima Buddha explains:āya), The a Mindfulness of breathing, bhikkhus, when developed and cultivated, is of great fruit and great benefit.

In this booklet, Myanmarese meditation master, the Most Venerable Pa-Auk Tawya Sayadaw gives a brief discussion of the great fruit and great benefit to be gained from practising mindfulness of breathing. That is the thirty-seven requisites of enlightenment

The four foundations of mindfulness

The four right efforts .

The four bases of spiritual power
The five controlling faculties
The five powers
The seven enlightenment factors

The Noble Eightfold Path (Ariyo Aññhaïgiko Maggo). In accordance with The Buddha’s series of instructions, the Sayadaw first describes how the yogi develops samatha with mindfulness of breathing, until there appears the light of wisdom and the sign of concentration, the nimitta. Then the Sayadaw explains how the yogi develops the gained concentration, until the attainment of the fourth jhāna.

Afterwards, the Sayadaw explains how the yogi uses the light of wisdom to discern ultimate materiality, ultimate mentality, and their dependent origination, in order then to develop vipassanā. Finally, the Sayadaw explains how the yogi progresses through the series of insight knowledges until there is realization of Nibbāna. In each case, the Sayadaw explains how the yogi’s gradual development fulfils the thirty-seven requisites of enlightenment: in samatha, in vipassanā, and in the realization of Nibbāna.